What Doesn't Kill You
by ayesis
Summary: Henry follows a blood trail up onto a rooftop. What could possibly go wrong? Bit of Henry!Whump. Oneshot. Literally my Forever fix as there aren't new episodes.


_AN; I don't even know. Forever might not get picked up. I need a new fix, and sadly this is the best I can do. If I could afford it, Forever would be mine and it would never end. Ever. *gross sobbing*  
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"There's blood here..." Henry stated, glancing at the floor before raising his sights to the fire escape. He pulled down the ladder.

Jo turned away from the dead body, and watched in disbelief as Henry reached the first level of the fire escape, "Henry? What're you doing? Get down from there."

Henry turned to look down at her, "There's blood on the ground just beneath the escape, and," he knelt down on the metal landing, "blood here too..."

"Come down, the CSIs can go up there." Jo called.

Lucas came up from behind her, leaving the body and moving to where Henry had mentioned the blood first. He took a swab sample, collecting DNA. "What d'ya know? Docs right. Again." Lucas muttered.

"Of course..." Jo sighed.

Henry smiled to himself as he stood again, "Our victim may well have come down from the roof."

"Henry you're the medical examiner, you're needed on the ground. Y'know, with the _body_." Jo tried again.

Henry shrugged, "I'm here, I might as well." he paused and headed up the first set of steps. Jo watched him, irritated to no end.

Lucas came to stand next to her, "To be fair, he's probably got better eyes than the CSIs."

Jo frowned at the assistant, "That's not the point, Lucas. God knows what's up there." Lucas looked up to see Henry moving up another set of steps. He turned a full circle and Lucas had to chuckle at his boss' strangeness.

"Henry!" Jo shouted up to him and he paused before moving up the third set of steps. He looked down over the railings to her, "Get. Down. Now."

Henry offered her a smile instead, "Detective! What if the killer escaped up here?"

Jo suddenly felt a surge of panic. She swallowed it down and called back, "All the more reason for you not to go up there!" He headed up the steps without a reply.

"Henry I will arrest your ass!" Jo grouched. Either he didn't hear her, or he ignored her because he kept going. He took the last two stories and disappeared onto the roof. Jo sighed loudly, turned and headed back to the body. She moved around it and made her way to Hanson.

"Wanna come play good cop bad cop with the residents?" he asked her.

"Sure, I gotta wait for Henry now anyway." Jo told him.

"Why? What's he doing now? Got a COD yet?" Hanson queried, glancing into the alleyway behind Jo.

"Blow to the head..." Jo answered, "at first glance anyway."

"From the guy pancake-ing the pavement, right?" Hanson asked.

Jo shook her head, "With Henry, I... I don't even know these days. He's just followed a blood trail up onto the roof."

Hanson laughed, "I'll send a couple guys up there, watch his back."

"I swear Mike, one of these days he's gonna get himself kil-," Jo was cut off but the sound of a gunshot from above. She turned and rushed back into the alleyway, Hanson hot on her heels. Lucas was back by the victim, head turned upwards at the sound of the shot.

Jo paused just after the body and before the fire escape. She looked up, "Henry!?" when there was no answer, she scrambled up the ladder to the first landing.

"Jo!" Hanson called out to her, then turned back and ran back to the gathered law enforcement at the street. Jo was on the third landing when Henry appeared at the edge of the roof, struggling with an assailant. She made to move up to the next landing but then Henry fell. It was like the world was moving in slow motion as she rushed to the side to try and grab him. She missed and she heard the sickening thud as he made contact with the ground.

Time sped up again and she blinked before coming to her senses and making a quick descent. She was on the last landing when she noticed Lucas next to Henry, trying to rouse him. "Lucas!" Jo shouted, as she climbed down the ladder, jumping off two feet from the ground and floundering over to the two men, "Lucas?!"

Lucas glanced up at her, "He's alive. T-there's a pulse."

Jo let out a relieved breath and took Henry in. She didn't see a bullet wound, "Looks like the shooter missed him."

"Yeah," Lucas replied, his hand moved to the back of Henry's head, "but the floor didn't." he pulled his hand back. Blood. Jo eyed his hand and turned to shout for assistance when Henry groaned. She turned back quickly, pulling a muscle in her neck. Henry smiled awkwardly up at her and Lucas. Jo opened her mouth to speak but Lucas interrupted her with a surprised yelp. Henry lifted his hand and while Jo stared dumbfounded, Lucas grasped his hand around his upper arm and Henry's hand closed on Lucas'.

The assistant pulled up his boss into a sitting position. Henry blinked away blurred vision and eyed Lucas, "Thank you, Lucas."

"Y-you're... welcome." he replied after a moment of silence, "Uh, you're kinda, bleeding."

Henry would've nodded had his head hurt not hurt so much, "Yes. That tends to happen when you pick a fight with the floor and lose."

"What were you thinking?!" Jo snapped at him, startling both men.

Henry cleared his throat, "I... I was... uh, following a blood trail. I thought I might find some answers..."

"Instead you found a man who shot at you and threw you off a roof." Jo said, voice tense.

"That I did." Henry replied.

"Our killer?" Jo asked, without thinking.

"Possibly."

"Did you get a good look at his face?"

"Covered."

"Dammit." Jo cursed.

Henry smiled, "Lucas, would you be a dear and help me up? I fear I might keel over if I attempt it myself."

"Oh, y-yeah, sure!" Lucas did so quite quickly, lifting Henry with little trouble.

"What are you doing?" Jo glared at the doctor, "You've got head wound. You need to sit down."

"Lucas, how bad is the wound?" Henry asked.

Lucas paused and stepped back to eyed the wound on the older mans head, "I've seen better."

"I rest my case-," Jo started.

"But I've seen worse." Lucas added.

Jo frowned, "You're not helping."

Lucas came back to Henry's side, "Sorry Detective. Doc, let's get you patched up, yeah?" Henry allowed Lucas to lead him out of the alley and to a waiting ambulance.

Hanson shook his head at Henry, "When will you learn, doc?"

"Thanks," Jo told Hanson in regards to the ambulance, "come on Henry, sit down. Let them take a look." Henry was assisted into the ambulance and made to sit.

Jo stepped up after him, "What is it with you?"

One paramedic tended to the wound and as such, Henry was unable to turn to face her, "I didn't expect a man with a gun to be waiting for me, Jo. I am sorry." he paused, "Still, what doesn't kill you..."

Jo gritted her teeth, "Makes you stronger... yeah..." Henry nodded slightly and she sighed, "...but what does kill you, Henry... it makes you dead."

His answer was barely a whisper, "If only."

 **The End.**


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